Presentation Schedule
Language Teaching in the Age of AI: Are Teachers Future-Proof? (96594)
Session Chair: Nourreddine Menyani
Thursday, 2 October 2025 15:20
Session: Session 2
Room: (B1) Sants
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation
As artificial intelligence increasingly assumes prominent instructional roles, particularly in language learning, the future necessity of human teachers is being critically questioned. AI is often likened to a calculator—a powerful tool that supports but never replaces the teacher. Yet this analogy fails to account for modern AI’s growing sophistication.
Drawing on John Searle’s Chinese Room thought experiment, this inquiry scrutinizes what we consider to be genuine comprehension and emotion—and their necessity for effective language instruction—especially in light of the more sophisticated “new Chinese Room” we are collaboratively building. It also challenges the widespread assumption that teachers will remain future-proof due to their uniquely human traits and questions the belief that the need to learn languages will persist unchanged.
As we stand at the threshold of a seismic shift in education—perhaps the calm before the storm—this inquiry explores how we, perhaps the last generation of language teachers to be recorded in the archives of educational history, might adapt and reimagine our roles in this time of transition. It also considers how we might accompany our students on a gentler journey down the flower-lined path toward an educational future that may ultimately leave us behind.
Authors:
Esra Topaloğlu, Izmir Katip Çelebi University, Turkey
About the Presenter(s)
Esra Topaloğlu is currently a lecturer of English and item-writer at Izmir Katip Çelebi University, Turkey.
Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/esra-t-70141832b/
See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule
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